Ismailis

The Ismailis philosophers were a sect like esoteric group that is based on esoteric beliefs and strong secrecy. This secrecy is also what lead to lots of misconceptions and fear of this group of philosophers/theologians. Their Taqiyya, which is a way to defend themselves against attacks on their beliefs, came to be what people seemed to be most untrustworthy about. People seemed to think that Taqiyya was cause for terrorism and supported lying to outsiders. A certain cause for this is always esoteric philosophy, which makes people suspicious, in many cases justifiably so.

Imailists believe in a very religious world view. They follow islamic structures like Imams that when they die reincarnate or morph into a new Imam. To get into the group you have to be inaugurated by a natiq. Although Ismailism seems very close-minded, one of their main views is that knowledge lies in everything and that foreign sources are formidable material to learn more about the world. So the esoteric sect that is Ismailism is actually quite open-minded when it comes to foreign influences.